Great Classics

Enduring stories that are as relevant today as they were when written at the turn of the century by influential women writers. This audio recording includes: "On the Divide" and "The Garden Lodge" by Willa Cather; "A Point at Issue", "Desiree's Baby", "A Pair of Silk Stockings", and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin; "Three Thanksgivings" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; and "The Pelican" and "The Fullness of Life" by Edith Wharton.

These iconic works explore the depths of human suffering, identity, and transformation, showcasing some of the most profound voices of the 20th century. From the haunting reflections on war in All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms to the poetic expression of inner conflict in the works of Owen, Rosenberg, and Brooke, this collection provides a window into the world of writers who grappled with the aftermath of trauma and the search for meaning.

With over one million copies sold, The Great American Bathroom Book is the perfect companion for the burgeoning intellect on the go. Whether you're an avid reader in need of a refresher course or a novice who wouldn't know his Longfellow from his Dickens, The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 1 provides nearly 120 comprehensive summaries and thought-provoking commentaries on the literary world's finest classics.

The second volume of the best-selling Great American Bathroom Book series delivers a comprehensive crash course in more than 170 iconic literary masterpieces. You'll be well on your way to becoming the most popular trivia partner not named Ken Jennings after you're done devouring The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 2!

At home, work, and out in our ever-changing world, we're all just doing our best. In this modern parody, Frog and Toad are here to commiserate and lend some laughter. Full of wry humor and deep compassion for our modern vulnerabilities, the stories in Frog and Toad Are Doing Their...

Set in New York during the Jazz Age, this new adaptation tells the tragic tale of self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby. Consumed with desire for his former lover, Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby draws new neighbor Nick Carraway into his desperate pursuit to win her back—and into their world of lavish wealth, wild parties, and free-flowing liquor.

The story is told from the point of view of Pip, an orphan of humble origins who dreams of being a gentleman. From a chilling encounter with a convict when he was seven, through his coming of age and early adulthood, he tells of his "memorable days" and the "great changes" they wrought in him. Pip is apprenticed to kind-hearted Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, husband to his ill-tempered sister. On meeting the eccentric and reclusive Miss Havisham and her proud and haughty ward, the beautiful Estella, Pip becomes ashamed of his origins and hopes to one day better himself.

Great Expectations is the 13th novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel: a bildungsroman that depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens's second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861.

In this book, Stefan Zweig traces 12 fateful events of world history in his unique artistic style: from the conquest of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople by the Turks, to the Battle of Waterloo to Sir Robert Falcon Scott's tragic South Pole expedition. The human character and sometimes simple fate are decisive historic factors that have led to dramatic and lasting changes in the past. Often short, coincidental and highly dramatic moments have the potential to change the future of mankind in a decisive manner – the so called "Great Moments of Humanity".

The third installment of the best-selling Great American Bathroom series delivers an invaluable gift to the listener: The ability to comprehend over 100 of the most renown works of literary genius in the time it would normally take you to devour one complete audiobook. It's basically literary time travel! With over 100 classic novels, plays, and operas at your disposal, The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 3 offers you the opportunity to enhance your literary acumen one bathroom break at a time!

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession with reuniting with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The novel was inspired by a romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922.

Narrator Nick Carraway tells the story of his neighbour Jay Gatsby, whose parties at his Long Island mansion are as lavish as his past is mysterious. Yet Gatsby cares only for one of his guests: his lost love Daisy Buchanan, now married and living across the bay. In Fitzgerald’s hands, this deceptively simple story becomes a perfect work of art, told in hauntingly beautiful prose.

Understood to be a commentary on human nature, consumerism, idealism, prejudice, and American society overall, this novel has become one of the most widely known and read pieces of literature. Thrown in the midst of the age of roaring twenties, tempted by the American dream, luxury, and romance, narrator Nick Carraway joins the elusive and extraordinary Jay Gatsby as the latter continues his dramatic pursuit of his longtime love interest, Daisy Buchanan.

The protagonist, Pip, lives with his sister “Mrs Joe Gargery” and her husband, Joe, in a secluded rural village in the marshlands of Kent. Both his parents are dead. Pip has always had a burning desire to become a Gentleman. The story follows how Pip, through circumstances not of his own making, rises to great wealth, becomes part of the London elite and is considered to have “Great Expectations”. However, as the story develops, he betrays or deserts his true friends and becomes eventually humbled by his own arrogance and pride.

I would like to be remembered as someone who made people smile.' One of the great icons of our time, Khushwant Singh, 95, is a man of contradictions. An agnostic who's well-versed in the holy scriptures; a vocal champion of free speech who supported the Emergency; a 'dirty old man' who...

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens, first serialised in All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861. The action of the story takes place from Christmas Eve 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old, to the winter of 1840. Great Expectations is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and is the story of the orphan Pip, tracing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood.

James Baldwin reading from Another Country and Giovanni's Room; WIlliam Styron reading from Lie Down in Darkness; James Jones reading from From Here to Eternity; and Philip Roth reading from Letting Go.

Remember the wonderfully romantic book of letters by Beethoven, Byron and Napoleon that featured in the Sex and the City film? That collection never actually existed, but all of the letters referenced in the film were real; so Macmillan decided to create Love Letters of Great Men. . . From the private papers of Mark Twain and Mozart to those of Robert Browning and Nelson, Love Letters of Great Men collects together some of the most romantic letters in history.

A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor—these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens's haunting late novel depicts Pip's education and development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his great expectations.

This book compiles both the first (1855) and final (1892) versions of Walt Whitman's masterpiece Song of Myself in one volume, making it unique and valuable for students of American literature.